Design projects in a whole range of fields generally require a collaboration of individuals and a coordination of information and tasks.
Most engineering design results from the joint efforts of a highly qualified team of engineers, designers, marketing specialists, etc. The people working on any particular product may belong to different companies, using different CAD systems and may be based in widely differing locations.
It is thus difficult and time-consuming for these people to exchange data and to discuss design ideas and modifications. Decisions can be delayed when members of the team are unable to travel or attend meetings. Furthermore, because members of the design team can be located all over the world, much expense and time can be spent in travelling to meetings to discuss the project.
Of course, copies of design drawings can be sent by fax or by computer communication and telephone conferences can be arranged between the members of the team. However, this means that the parts of the drawing to which a member of the team is referring needs to be described in words to the other members of the team involved in the telephone conference and misunderstandings can easily arise, particularly in very complex design projects. It is also not always immediately apparent what effect a modification to one component may have on other components.
The ability to access and collaborate on design data anywhere at any time is extremely important in product development if the development of a product is not to become prohibitively involved and expensive. Often, an inferior design has been chosen for production, since to change the features of the design and have them all agreed by all members of the team would involve too much time and expense in arranging meetings, conferences, etc.
In recent times, systems have been developed allowing designers based in different locations to work together over a network in a ‘Virtual Design Studio’, particularly using web-based tools. These systems enable users to easily access and collaborate on design data.
There are now several CAD-design data packages which can be delivered in an easily usable manner to all members of the product development team, via a network, e.g. via the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,247; U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,683; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,658, for example, disclose such systems.
These ‘Virtual Design Studios’ enable various members of the design team, and other observers, to ‘meet’ over the network to detect and resolve design conflicts at all stages of product development.
One factor which has previously restricted the usefulness of the ‘Virtual Design Studio’ for CAD applications is the amount of data contained in CAD models. Even models of simple products can reach hundreds of megabytes in size. During the virtual design process, these models have had to be transmitted across the Internet and this has previously not been a feasible solution.
However, over the past two years or so, new technologies have emerged which have enabled the virtual design process over the Internet to become a reality.
The process known as ‘streaming 3D’ allows 3D data, such as the data making up CAD models to be transmitted across networks incrementally, rather than all at once. As a user uses and manipulates a CAD model, the streaming 3D technology automatically downloads the portion the user can see. This technique allows a user to operate on highly complex models via the Internet.
One such ‘streaming’ system is the ‘Envision 3D’ system. When the user accesses the server, he enters a 3D model. A picture appears on his screen and then, as he starts to use various navigation tools, new information comes into view as and when required. New information is streamed from the server and old data exits the system.
Similarly, the ‘ConceptWorks’ system from RealityWave allows transmission of current CAD files to enable real-time collaboration over the Internet. Rather than transmitting an entire CAD file, only the parts of the file seen by the user are transmitted.
Powerful collaboration systems now exist which have the ability to support people at different spatial locations working together simultaneously on the same design project.
It is also possible for the results of changes within one design step or by one member of the design team to be fed back to the others while the work is going on. This clearly requires real-time communication between members of the virtual team and means for integrating and checking the results of work done by individuals.
The leading solution for real-time collaboration using the CAD 3D product model is CoCreate's ‘OneSpace’ system which is essentially a virtual conference room where global product development teams can connect with each other.
Users distributed at different locations can, from their own computer screens, view a particular CAD model online in the course of a virtual meeting. They can note annotations to it and can modify the design. As a result, design problems can not only be identified more quickly but can also be discussed and solved there and then. It is much more efficient to exchange suggestions and ideas while viewing the CAD model.
This system has been successfully used to hold online meetings with departments at other locations or with external suppliers and to implement the changes proposed by their development partners immediately. Furthermore, design alternatives can be explored there and then, with input from all of the design team who will have different fields of expertise and see different problems arising from suggested solutions or ideas.
The ‘OneSpace’ system supports individual and shared understanding; allows users at different locations to view, inspect and mark-up the same design, enables on-the-spot detection and resolution of conflicts and exploration of design alternatives in a real-time discussion and design forum.
‘OneSpace’ functions on top of most 3D CAD environments, which means that users do not need to invest in a new CAD technology to reap the benefits.
Thus, there are now several effective systems available which allow a large number of people involved in the production of a design to view, discuss and modify the design in a ‘virtual conference’. The design can then be finalised much more quickly and forwarded for production.
However, the final version of the design is generally the result of many modifications, ideas and suggestions and the CAD data describing the design describe only the final result of a creative process, i.e. how a product or part of the product looks, but not why it was developed in one way and not in another, for example. There is nothing in the design data about the many ideas which were conceived and discarded for some reason and, in future designs, all of these ideas have to be reasoned through again and again.